


Unexpected consequences

by Rehe_im_Walde



Category: Rammstein
Genre: Anxiety, Eventual Fluff, Imprisonment, M/M, Touring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:40:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22951930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehe_im_Walde/pseuds/Rehe_im_Walde
Summary: Rammstein are continuing their highly succesful stadiumtour. Their performance is a big hit by fans all over the world.However, in various countries intolerance against suggestive male-male affection has been growing lately.This hasn't led to any consequences yet...until now..
Relationships: Richard Kruspe/Paul Landers
Comments: 36
Kudos: 96





	1. Intolerance

**Author's Note:**

> The characters are, ofcourse, their own and not mine. All thoughts and conversations are fictional.

Being on tour had by now become routine for the band Rammstein. They had toured with various sets for over 25 years and their current tour was already tried and tested.  
Not only the playing of the songs had settled in, but also the performances that went with them and which on tour were always a big part of the entertainment for their fans.  
Apart from some mock-violence between singer Till and keyboarder Flake, a whole lot of pyrotechnics and fireworks and some sexually suggestive moves by Till, the current performance also contained a short kiss between guitarists Paul and Richard.

The kiss had originated more or less as a spur of the moment idea, but had become a fixed feature in the set as a statement against growing LGBT-intolerance in the world; a lot of friends and fans of the band were directly affected by this.  
That the guitarists performed the kiss was no coincidence either. They had been known to have huge fights in the past and although these had been toned down to only heated discussions (which they both enjoyed, both being talkers and their bandmates only too happy they had two characters like this in their band, so they didn't have to get involved themselves) and these had become few and far between recently, a lot of fans still thought that the two hated eachother's guts, and the band had figured this would be a good opportunity to show their fancommunity that any animosity that had once been there, was completely layed to rest.  
Although a scheduled part of the performance, the guitarists made sure they never acted out the kiss exactly the same way twice.  
Sometimes the kissing was even skipped entirely and replaced by a hug (apart from both being talkers, they were also both huggers, this also a tendency not always appreciated by their bandmates) or some 'quatre-main' guitarplaying.

Even though the kissing was very chaste, it had caused some commotion, especially in countries were kissing between two man was considered inapproriate. In a few countries the kiss had even made it to the frontpage of mainstream media which had never occured with their previous performances, so even though the statement was intended, the band were nonetheless amused by the stir it had caused.  
On one or two occasions it had even led to politicians questioning if the band should be banned from their country, but up until now there had been no actual actions to this effect yet.  
The Rammstein fans had no problem with it anyway; those who weren't too thrilled about it could shrug it off as 'just an act', and on the other side of the spectrum were those who encouraged the guitarists to expand their 'encounter' and egged them on.

However, only recently the world had been shook up by explicit violence against the LGBT community in the country they would play next. Not just the violence was shocking, even more the fact that it had been condoned and seemingly encouraged by the government of the particular country.  
For the first time on their tour, the country's main newspaper had actually published an official governmental statement that explicitely named Rammstein as a band that 'corrupted the nation's youth' and 'encouraged unhealthy and unnatural tendencies' and that called for Rammstein to leave out the particular part of the performance or 'go home and not come back'.  
With the article a photo of one of the guitarists' kisses in an earlier performance was printed, with a black bar covering the lower parts of their faces as if to hide a criminal offense.

The band had already arrived in the country, where they were greeted by a huge crowd of enthousiastic fans. When signing autographs, more than one of them had quietly whispered 'please don't stop' and showed the band they were wearing a rainbow-pin under their coats, all the while keeping an eye out for the policeofficers that were accompanying the band whenever they were outside of their hotel, so they wouldn't notice.

And today, just as they had finished their final soundcheck, the band manager had gathered the band in the largest dressing room that was shared by Paul and bassplayer Olli.  
The soundcheck had gone smooth so the bandmembers were in a good mood, and had grabbed a beer or other refreshment as a start for their final preparation for tonight's show.

Drummer Schneider was the first to notice their manager not being in his usual pre-show-mood "What's with the serious face? The soundcheck went really well, I can't imagine you have anything to complain about?"  
The others had by now settled down to relax on several couches and were looking at their manager expectantly.  
He looked around the room at the six musicians "Okay, I don't really know how to tell you this, but here goes.." as he folded open the piece of paper he had in his hand "..we have received an official notice not to perform indecent behaviour at the show, as this is against the law in this country and could lead to consequences.."  
"What indecent behaviour?" Till snorted and took a swig of his beer and with a nod at the two guitarists sitting together on one sofa "Are they talking about that little kissing bit that these two do?"  
"Good thing we don't perform 'Bück dich' anymore" Flake grinned at Till "if they think kissing is bad here, they'd faint at us pretending to have anal sex on stage.."  
Till nodded "..and we even did that performance in this country in the past, never had any trouble...why are they making such a big deal out of it now?"  
"I don't know.." the bandmanager sighed "..and I don't really know how serious they will take this, but I'm not sure how much we can risk in this country...even the security for this venue is mainly handled by the local policeforce.."  
"Well, I think it's stupid, we should just ignore it, I bet there are elections or something coming up and these politicians want to make themselves look good." Till was getting restless at the, to him, pointless discussion.  
"You heard the fans at the signing, they appreciate it, and don't we all mainly do this for the fans anyway?" Schneider was bemused the manager still looked worried.  
"What are these consequences you mentioned?" Olli asked.  
"It doesn't say, just 'consequences'.."  
"See, just idle threads by smartass politicians" Till got up and got another beer "I say we ignore it, what's the worst they can do?"  
"They could cut the electricity off.." Flake suggested.  
"Big deal, so we continue unplugged, we already did that once, the audience loved it.." Schneider had also decided not to be bothered by the notice "..I bet it's even cuter when these two kiss in an unplugged set anyway."  
Flake laughed "..maybe they could shut off the pyro and fireworks.." resulting in a grumbled "I'd like to see them try.." from Till standing next to the refrigerator "..then I'll give them some real indecent behaviour.."

Olli, always one of the more careful people in the band, looked around "..is that really *the worst* that these government people can do?"  
"Well, what do you suggest, cut off our beersupply? Take away our cigarettes? Come on, they are not going to do anything serious, they just want to make a statement."  
"Well.." Olli hesitated "..that's just what I'm worried about, that they want to make a statement."  
"I say it's ridiculous" Till settled down again "I had the same reaction from some people when touring with my other band, we didn't bother, everything turned out fine.."  
Schneider groaned "Don't remind me, that was way worse then anything Paul and Richard do..but I agree, we should just ignore it."  
Olli turned to the two guitarists "You two are unusually quiet.."  
Flake grinned "Probably already thinking of a way to make the scene even more elaborate tonight."

Paul had been looking at Richard, a bit puzzled by the concerned look that had appeared on the other's face, but encouraged by the fact that half the band already seemed to consider the whole thing a joke, he also grinned "Yeah, I don't see why we should change anything, we wanted to make a statement, well, it's working. Let them do their worst."  
He nudged Richard "We could even spice it up a bit if you want.."  
Richard still didn't reply, he was watching Olli, the only other bandmember who seemed weary. Although Olli was not much of a talker himself, Richard had over the years grown to appreciate the fact that Olli put a lot of thought in the words he *did* say.  
All eyes were on him and after a few more silent moments he sighed "I'm not sure..maybe we should leave the kiss out tonight and just do the guitarbit, or a short hug, we've been doing those at other shows too.."

Now the counter-arguments came from various sides of the room:  
"So you're just giving in to some loudmouth politicians?"  
"There is nothing they can really do against it, and I bet it would make good publicity if they tried something.."  
"The fans love the 'guitar husband kiss', they always post photos on social media the next day.."

Again Richard sighed..still undecided, in a way anxious without knowing what the exact reason for the feeling was.  
Paul put his hand on the other guitarist's thigh, squeezed it and grinned "Let's just do it, just a quick kiss, nothing more, the officials probably won't even notice it.." he squeezed again, laid his chin on Richard's shoulder and teased "..or don't you want to kiss me anymore..are you fed up with me?"  
Richard turned to look at Paul's face near his own "..you know I'm not..I'm just.. I don't know..I just think that they can do worse than cutting electricity.."  
"We'll be okay, you'll see.." Paul gave Richard's cheek a quick rub with the tip of his nose "..and we just do this one show here anyway, the next gig is in a very 'statement-friendly' country.." another quick rub "..we'll be fine.."

Till had been watching the guitarists and now his impatience got the better of him, so he decided to end the discussion "Well, as I count it, it's four against two, and with Rammstein the majority vote always wins, so I say 'case closed'.. let's start getting ready.."

As the others left, Olli turned to Richard again "You do realize that if you just don't walk over to Paul at that point in the show, you'll miss the timing and there'll be no kiss anyway.."  
"Yeah, no, it's okay, I don't really mind, not really..besides, it *is* a fanfavorite, and Paul enjoys it."  
"And you enjoy it.." Olli looked at Richard who had started to walk away to his dressingroom.  
Richard stopped, shot a quick look at Olli before replying in a low voice "..more than he knows.." then turned and left.

\-----

The concert was a roaring succes with a fantastic crowd that sang along to every song. The local police was present in the vicinity of the stadium, but were watching seemingly relaxed from a distance and the local fans were used to having police around anyway, so everything went smooth.  


Paul was in high spirits, having fun with the fans on his side of the stage, clowning around and urging them on to join him in funny dancemoves. Richard smiled when he looked over to him; when they first started Rammstein he had found Paul's relaxed attitude during a gig highly annoying, thinking it unprofessional, but over the years he had mellowed down to at first not noticing and lately thinking it endearing and even cute. Occassionally Richard walked over to Paul's side so he could have a little fun too with the other guitarist, secretly suspecting many of Paul's fans were jealous of him and would love to be in his place.

As the song that they performed the kiss to started, Richard felt some anxiety coming back, but Paul made sure to make eyecontact a couple of times and smile encouragingly at Richard, to indicate that all would be fine.  
As they walked up to eachother for the kiss, Paul smiled his sunniest smile, melting away any hesitation Richard had left.

As they leaned into eachother and their lips touched, Paul made sure to prolongue the kiss just a tiny bit longer than usual. The crowd near the stage applauded loud as the guitarists leaned back to start the next song.  
Paul grinned "See, electricity is still on" and Richard nodded and gave a relieved smile in return before each walk away to their respective place on the stage.

\-----

After the show ended and the band had said their final goodbye to the audience, the other bandmembers were more excited than usual, still vibrating from the adrenaline from a great show. They were looking forward to the afterparty, to have a few drinks and hang out with some of their fans.  
Olli smiled at the guitarists "I thought the lights would go on when you kissed and they would clear the building or something."  
"You guys are just overdramatic, I told you everything would be fine, just some election propaganda" Till laughed as he went to his dressingroom.  
Richard's dressingroom was the last in the row, the closest to the exit, because he liked to have a quick smoke now and then; to his annoyance he wasn't allowed to smoke indoors in any country anymore.  
As he walked to his room with Schneider (his dressingroom neighbour), the drummer grinned at him "I know Till was convinced, but I have to admit I was relieved when nothing happened."  
"So was I, I'm glad the next gig will be in a different country and there isn't so much pressure on that particular song. I'm stepping out for a minute to have a smoke, starting to feel the nicotine-low."  
"Okay, see you in a bit then.."

\-----

As Richard stepped outside, he got out his after-show cigarette and lighter that he carried in his stageoutfit and leaned against a small fence near the exit to calm himself down.  
Shows were an adrenaline-high for him at the best of times and combined with today's anxiety this had been a particular difficult evening and he was glad to have a moment to himself to recover without the others around.  
He closed his eyes as he took another drag from his cigarette and in- and exhaled deeply, trying to get his body to relax and release the strain he felt.  
'Focus on one particular action, just one at a time' was something that he learned from practising yoga and that had helped him relax in the past, so he took another drag and tried to focus.  
Inhale..  
Exhale..

\-----

Until they stood directly in front of him, he hadn't noticed that four men had approached him. 

Richard's mind seemed to react in slowmotion, still mentally coming down from the performance, only after a few more moments he realized they were policemen.  
Although he did know some words in the local language, he didn't understand what the men wanted. The one who did the talking held a piece of paper in his hand that looked vaguely familiar to Richard, although he couldn't immediately place it.  
As he talked, the others moved to stand on either side of the guitarist.

Only when one of the policemen grabbed his shoulder Richard's mind seemed to snap in place again, his body reacted automatically and he took a swipe at the policeman who grabbed him.

This apparently was what the policemen had been waiting for; three of them now took hold of him and wrestled him down. Richard tried to resist being manhandled and attempted to kick wherever he could hit them, but this proved to be a mistake, the men obviously were skilled at reigning in struggling suspects.  
First they pinned him against the fence, when that broke down, to the floor and when Richard was incapacitated he was handcuffed and pulled up off the ground, groaning from a pain in his chest and dizzy from his head hitting the fence.

The commotion had now reached to the building itself, several of the crew coming out to see what was going on, confused at seeing the scene in front of them.

One of them was fluent in the language and when after a lot of heated discussion the piece of paper was shown again, Richard realized it was the official notice the band had received that day. The crew apparently had realized too, and now the turmoil was building and more and more people came running out to see what was going on. Richard heard someone call his name, but couldn't make out any individual words anymore.

Still in a daze of confusion at what was happening and pain as he was held up, the last thing he saw was more people rushing out of the building starting to gesticulate at the policemen.

Then he passed out and collapsed against the policemen who were holding him.


	2. Confusion

(a few moments earlier)  
Schneider had taken his shirt off and closed his eyes to take a moment to relax and reflect on the show before he would take a shower to wash off the stagemakeup.  
He heard a lot of noise outside his dressingroomdoor, but at first didn't pay much attention to it; backstage was always a hustle-and-bustle of crew, local people involved and various guests of the band (usually 90% of which were Till's, now probably even more because they hadn't brought their families along to this country) all running around and demanding their share of attention.  
Only after a few minutes he realized that the noise got louder and seemed to focus at the exit of the area and not as it usually did around Till and Flake's dressingroom.  
When someone yelled out the name of their tourmanager, Schneider opened his eyes and turned his attention to the noise.  
As he heard their manager running by, busily talking to someone else, Schneider got up and opened the door to take a look at what was happening.

Several crewmen and -women were standing in the corridor looking, indeed, in the direction of the exit. Schneider stepped out of his room and walked over to the exitdoor where a crowd had gathered, but when they saw him, they made way for him to step outside.

For a minute he thought he had stepped into a moviescene; the situation too surreal to comprehend. Near the door where the bandmanager and several of his assistants busily talking and gesturing with one of them who spoke the local language.  
After every few words or sentences the translator nodded and shouted to a group of people standing a few meters away opposite them.  
Several of them were wearing what Schneider by now recognized as local policeoutfits, the band had seen enough of them the last few days to easily tell who they were, and between them one person struggling against an obvious tight hold..  
"Richard!" Schneider shouted his name automatically without thinking "Richard, are you okay?"

The bandmanager turned to Schneider "Go back inside.." but Schneider didn't hear a word he said, too busy looking at Richard, who was doubling over in obvious pain, although Schneider still had a hard time fully making sense of what he saw.  
When he saw Richard going limp and collapsing between the policemen, he again shouted "Richard!" and tried to take a step forward, but felt someone grabbing his arm to hold him back.  
"Schneider! Go back inside, we'll handle it."  
"They are hurting him! Richard!"  
"Schneider.." the grip on his arm tightened.  
"Let me go, he passed out, they need to get their hands off him and back off!"  
"Christoph.." the bandmanager had stepped right in front of Schneider to get his attention, and more than that physical act, the fact that he used his first name made Schneider look at him "..Christoph, we are doing what we can to stop them taking him, but they say they have warned us up front not to perform those 'indecent actions' as they call it and feel they have the right to arrest him."  
"But that's..just.."  
"I know, but after Richard resisted arrest, they are even more determined of this, so we're doing what we can to get him off.." the manager lay his hand on Schneider's shoulder "Christoph.. please go inside so these policemen don't get the idea into their heads to arrest more bandmembers and we'll have an even bigger problem.."  
Schneider hesitated, but with another glance at the policemen he took a deep sigh and then nodded, thinking of something to say, but words failed him so he turned and took a step back to the building.  
"And Christoph..please make sure the others don't come outside either.. especially Paul..these policemen would have a fieldday if they caught him as well.."  
Schneider hesitated, then nodded and reentered the building.

He walked into the corridor until he came into a quieter part, then stopped and leant against the wall to try and gather his thoughts.  
He was levelheaded enough to realize the bandmanager had been right about the other bandmembers staying out of sight and from a few years in the German military when he was younger understood these policemen had their orders and wouldn't hesitate to carry them out.  
With two hands he rubbed his face to try and calm down a bit, still shook up by the sight of Richard collapsing.

As he stood against the wall, he heard a door open next to him and when Olli appeared Schneider realized he was standing next to Paul and Olli's dressingroom.  
Olli was already showered and dressed for the afterparty, always the one who was fastest to get out of concertmode, a little surprised to see Schneider leaning against the wall near his door "Hey, didn't expect to see you.." then with a look at Schneider still wearing half his stage outfit "..what's going on, I thought we wanted to party soon?"  
"Where is Paul?"  
"Still in the showers, you know he likes to take his time. Flake and Till are there too. Why?"  
"Because.." Schneider licked his lips as he tried to put into words what was happening only a short distance away "..local police are outside, they have arrested Richard.."  
"What?" Olli looked at him in disbelief, then took a few steps into the corridor, but Schneider grabbed his arm.  
"No, we need to stay inside.."  
"You are kidding me, you can't be serious.."  
Schneider sighed "I didn't believe it either, but I saw it..the crew are now trying to get Richard off.."  
Olli turned to face Schneider, looking at him silently for a few moments, then trying to take another step "..This has got to be a prank, I want to see.."  
"No! Please, I'm serious, they want us to stay out of sight so we don't get arrested as well..especially Paul.."  
Olli stared at Schneider, the mention of the other guitarist's name had somehow convinced him of the seriousness of the situation "Paul will be so angry when he hears this.."  
"I know, I hope the crew get him free again quick, so we'll only have to tell Paul when all is okay again..but Olli.." Schneider tried to recall what he had seen only moments ago "..Richard was in pain, he fainted.."  
Olli held his breath for a moment, then whispered "Paul will be livid..they have been getting along so well lately, never seen them play together better.."  
"We can't tell him yet when this is still happening.."  
"He'll just rush outside and attack these people, we won't be able to stop him.."  
"There *are* four of us.."  
"If he knows Richard is hurt, four won't be enough.."

As the two were deliberating what to do, the noise in the corridor was growing louder again. When the crew and the bandmanager that had been outside appeared, Schneider breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the worst was over.  
One look at the manager's face put a stop to that feeling quickly.  
After urgently ordering several crewmembers on various errants, he turned to Olli and Schneider "Get into the dressingroom please, we'll get the others as well.."  
Only now Schneider realized the leadguitarist wasn't with the crowd of people "Where is Richard, you did get him off, right?"  
"Dressingroom please, I'll explain everything when the others are here.."

Several minutes later Rammstein, minus leadguitarist, were again sitting in Olli and Paul's dressingroom listening to their manager who with a serious face quickly explained what had happened, needing several repeats before Flake, Till and Paul believed him.  
He hesitated at the scene that Schneider had witnessed, and with a look at the drummer quickly decided to leave out several details "..what we know is: Richard was outside and they cuffed him and put him under arrest, citing that official notice we received earlier..Richard apparently resisted the arrest, so they put that on their list of charges as well.."  
Schneider raised his eyebrows at this summary of events, but when he looked at Paul's thunderous face, he decided it wouldn't help to elaborate at this time. 

Instead he asked what he had missed after he was sent inside "..but you did get him off, right? I mean, they wanted to make a statement and succeeded, but surely you've gotten him out with a fine or something?"  
The manager sighed, but felt it best to come to the point he knew he couldn't avoid "No, we haven't gotten him off..yet.."  
"What the..?"  
"You are right about them wanting to make a statement, but in this country they take their statements serious and things started to escalate; they were threatening to raid the building for the 'rest of the offenders' as they put it, so we.." he hesitated shortly "..we decided to let them take him to their policestation and we are going there now to reason with them and get him out. We figured that way they could make their statement and do what they were told, and we could keep you out of trouble so..."

"You..let..them..take..him.." all heads turned to Paul who in a low voice had interrupted.  
"Paul, it helped to give us some time to get you guys away from here and.."  
"You..let..them.." Paul sounded suspiciously like a volcano ready to blow "..are you fucking kidding me..do you even know where they took him.."  
"We are getting a team ready to go there, to the policestation, or the jail, or whatever it turns out to.."  
"Jail? You let them take Richard to jail?" Paul had jumped up, slapping away Olli's hand when he tried to stop him "Let go of me! You fucking let them take him to fucking jail? How is that going to help anything! He was in jail once when he was young, took him years to get over that..what a stupid thing for you to.."  
"Paul!" Schneider got up too and tried to push the guitarist back on the couch "You heard what he said, it was either that or them arresting all of us. And they would have, I saw what they were like.."  
Paul wasn't backing down and now stood menacingly looking at Schneider "You saw and you did nothing?"  
"There was nothing reasonable to do.."  
"Reasonable? Fuck reasonable! I would have kicked their asses if I.."  
"And that would have given them right what they wanted, two guitarists in one arrest, a lot of good that would have done, you dumbass!"

Paul looked ready to physically attack Schneider on the spot, only stopped briefly by the realisation that the other man had been his friend for over 30 years..  
Now it was Flake's turn to get up. He had known Paul for even longer, at some point in their younger years even living together, so he had enough experience with Paul's anger to usually stay out of the way.  
But now Paul was about to even have a go at Schneider, fists clenched, mouth tight, Flake walked up to Paul and without talking embraced him in a warm hug.  
This gesture, coming from his old friend who as a rule wasn't a fan of hugs, managed to snap Paul out of attackmode. As he leant against Flake and felt him stroking his back, Paul slowly unclenched his hands and eventually sat down on the couch again, Olli wrapping his arm around his shoulders to comfort him.

As the others were settling down again as well, their manager explained the plan of action "We're going to fly you guys on to the next concertvenue immediately. Afterparty is cancelled, you will be driven to the airport in 10 minutes and leave in an hour, we'll collect your luggage and send it on after you. As that venue is in another country you will be completely safe there and we won't have to worry about repercussions. A couple of us will stay here and go to the police to negotiate."  
"So we'll go and leave Richard here.." Paul whispered.  
"We are going to get him out, who knows we can fly him out already later tonight and you can have the afterparty in a few hours anyway, just in a different country."  
Schneider sighed, thinking Richard hadn't looked ready to party when he had last seen him, but one look at Paul and the others stopped him from adding anything more, maybe Richard had only fainted from stress and was alright after all.

==============================================================

Dazed and confused, Richard woke up.  
He tried to sit up, but was immediately groaning from a pain in his side that prevented any rash action.  
Lying down again he tried to gather his thoughts and figure out where he was.

Alone in a bare room.  
Just a hard bench on which he was lying, a bare wall with a closed metal door.  
A light in the ceiling, not very bright but not dimmed either; it seemed the only light.  
Again Richard tried to sit up, this time more careful, the pain was still strong, but when he wrapped his other arm over his chest to have some support it seemed a bit more managable.  
Sitting down he saw more bare wall, a tray near the door, a shallow matras he was sitting on, too thin to make the hard bench anywhere near comfortable.  
In the corner a metal toilet.  
A cell.  
This was a cell.

Richard's head was pounding, but the longer he sat up, the more he remembered from before.  
The concert, then policemen, then a struggle, then pain, then nothing.  
He was still wearing his stageoutfit, glad to have something familiar in this bareness.  
How long ago had that been?  
Was it still the same evening or had days passed? He couldn't tell.  
He was craving a cigarette, but that already happened after a few minutes, so that was no indication of elapsed time either. Cigarettes..he tried to fumble in his pocket to see if his cigarettes and lighter were still there..  
They weren't.

Thirsty..  
He looked at the tray next to the door. There was a waterjug on it and a metal cup.  
He got up (in three attempts, groaning and cursing his side as he tried) and carefully walked to the tray.  
Kneeling down was a bit easier than getting up, as long as he kept his upper body straight.  
He took the lid off the foodcontainer, it contained some bread, cold meat, vegetables.  
He poured a bit of water in the cup, but before drinking he halted.  
Was it safe to drink this?  
What if they'd poison him, or drug him?  
What did these people have in mind, was he even still with the same people who had arrested him?  
In this cell he heard or saw no one; occassionally a soft sound somewhere distant, but too blurry to recognize.  
He left the tray and cup at the door and shuffled back to the bench.

After a while he heard sounds outside and the door opened.  
Two men came in, both wearing the uniforms he recognized from before.  
They adressed him in a language he couldn't understand, every now and then he thought he recognized a word, but wasn't sure.  
They gestured at him, pointing at his clothes, after they realized he didn't understand, one touched his jacket and said in english "off.."  
Richard was annoyed: he was in pain, wanted to know where he was, when he would get out, wanting a cigarette.. 

He was about to throw a tantrum to blow off steam, when the men talked some more in their language and he thought he recognized a word.  
Sounded like 'Paul'.  
Paul... was he here too?  
Did they arrest him after Richard passed out?  
"Is Paul, my friend Paul..is he here?"  
The men didn't understand, or didn't bother, but again touched his jacket "Off.."  
If Paul was here, he didn't want these guards to get angry..what if they took it out on Paul..maybe he was in the next cell, he didn't hear anything outside this room, but surely there were more cells in this building.

Richard decided not to take the risk. He slowly, hampered by a strong pain at basically every move his torso made, took off his jacket.  
The men gestured at his pants "Off.."  
With difficulty he took off his boots and pants, inwardly glad that he hadn't gone commando at this show.  
Now standing in just his boxers, the men put a bundle of fabric on the bench, picked up his clothes and boots from off the floor and left.  
The door closed heavy, he heard the locks slide in place and the men walk away.

Alone again.  
Bare.  
He picked up the fabric which turned out to be a shirt, jumpsuit, cloth sandles; he put everything on, too cold to stay in just his underwear.

Alone.  
In a cell.  
Just like back then...when he was young, in East-Germany.  
He remembered that cell.  
It had haunted him.  
Like this cell.

==============================================================

(day 2)  
After they had arrived in this new country they had hoped Richard would follow on the next flight, but that didn't happen. When they went to their hotel, agreed to have a drink together and hope there'd be news of his release then, that didn't happen either.  
And this morning after waking up, the first thing they had checked at the breakfast table was to see if their manager had sent the redeeming message of Richard's renewed freedom, but again nothing.  
The only update that seemed to come was "We're working on it.." but other than that, no news, not even a sign of how Richard was doing. As far as the band knew, none of the team that had stayed behind had managed to get a glimpse of him since the arrest.

Paul was unusually subdued that day. It was only one day since he had last seen the other guitarist or not even that (although it seemed much longer). But now Richard hadn't returned within a few hours and there was still no message that that would change, Paul had realized how much he had grown used to Richard always being there when he wanted.  
Not that they hung out every day, not even every week, but when Paul called him, Richard would always answer. When he would drop by his house unexpected (as was Paul's habit), Richard was always happy to talk to him.  
Whether it was a new idea for the band or the show, needing a sparringpartner for a song or just to tell a funny story that he'd heard and wanted to share with someone, Paul now realized that the last months (or really even years) he had always turned to Richard and the other guitarist had never turned away.

What's more, Paul felt guilty for having been the one to persuade the other guitarist to do the kissing scene at the last concert. The other guys had told Paul that it was not his fault, but he had felt that Richard had been hesitant about the situation, where Paul himself had thought it funny to kiss when these politicians were against it. And he also knew that Richard would never have declined if Paul himself was fore it.  
And now this..

When around lunchtime there still wasn't any news, the band were forced to turn their attention to the tour again. The next concert was already scheduled for the following day.  
When Till had suggested they'd discus their options over lunch, Paul immediately reacted: "I don't want to play without Richard.."  
The others exchanged looks, they had expected this.  
"We don't want to play without him either, but we always say we tour for the fans, and the venue is sold out.."  
"Nope, not playing."  
"Paul, they always say in showbizz 'the show must go on'.."  
"Not doing it."  
Till decided to change tack "So you're going to let politicians win?"  
"Am not, just don't want to play without him."  
"These politicians want to make a stupid statement about something our fancommunity totally supports, and just like that you are giving in.."  
"Not.." Paul didn't want to admit that Till had a point "..besides, where would we find another guitarist on such short notice?"  
"Well.." Till hesitated but decided to take the plunge "..we could call Peter Tägtgren, he lives not that far from here, and he probably knows several of our songs already.." Till worked with Peter in his other band 'Lindemann' and had toured with him before.

Paul looked at Till with a frown on his face.  
The rest of the band held their breath.  
They had already briefly talked about the suggestion between the four of them, but none had been looking forward to breaking the idea to Paul; eventually they had resorted to drawing straws, the other three relieved that Till had drawn the shortest.  
"Well, that's very convenient is it, the minute a Rammstein guitarist is not even out of action for 24 hours, he's already replaced by a 'Lindemann' musician. That worked out just fine, didn't it, I just wonder how long it would have taken you to replace me, maybe I should start checking in every 15 minutes..."  
"Paul, don't be ridiculous, no one is replacing Richard.."  
"Well, it sure looks like it, doesn't it..and maybe you want Peter to finish the rest of the tour as well?"  
"Paul!.. Schneider decided to step in "..we just want the show to continue for the fans, and to stick it to those politicians; to show them that they are not getting us down that easily."  
"And if Richard is released now, or in the next hours, who knows how stressed out he is by spending the night in jail.." Olli suggested "..he may not be up to playing in tomorrow's gig anyway.."  
"It would do no harm to ask Peter to come and for us to rehearse with him just in case. And if Richard is back and up to playing, we'll be doubly glad that we haven't cancelled this show.." Flake added.  
Paul looked around the table at his bandmates and knew they had a point. He sighed "Okay then, but only because it'll give Richard time to relax when he gets back.."  
"That's settled then, I'll go and give Peter a call.." Till got up from the table, followed by Flake and Olli who were going for a walk.

Schneider stayed behind with Paul, who seemed lost in thought, then looked at him "You guys had already discussed this, didn't you.."  
"Little bit.." Schneider decided to be honest with Paul and was now considering being honest about the details of the arrest as well, which he still hadn't shared with the rest of the band.  
"You know what?" Paul's face brightened up at a thought that had just occured to him "I have a real gutfeeling that Richard will be back within hours and that he's as fine as ever and that he'll jump right into the next concert."  
"Paul..what you should know.."  
"It could happen right? He is probably looking forward to it already and just annoying everyone around him about getting him on a plane.." Paul chuckled "..or getting a cigarette, that is probably his first priority."  
Schneider hesitated, then decided to postpone honesty for the sake of Paul's good mood ".. probably..let's hope they haven't confiscated his lighter."

==============================================================

The guards had come and gone a few more times, but Richard couldn't tell how much time there was between.  
Richard ignored them.  
He didn't understand the language and the men spoke hardly any english, so there was no point asking for anything.  
At first he had tried words like 'Lawyer', 'Freedom', 'Release', but to no avail, the guards reacted at nothing, so now he didn't bother anymore.  
He hadn't tried 'Paul', not because he didn't want to know if the other guitarist was there, but because he was afraid he'd snap if it turned out he was or was hurt.

One time a guard had come with a new tray and taken away the old one, saying something to Richard when he noticed the old tray was untouched.  
Richard ignored him too.  
He sat on the bench with his legs pulled up against his chest as that turned out to be the least painful position.  
He had even slept sitting like that for a while, laying down was uncomfortable on the hard bed and the shallow matras.

The craving of cigarettes had been bad, but by now he was more thirsty and hungry than anything else, but Richard still didn't trust what was on the tray.  
Shortly after, the same guard had come back, and when the tray was still untouched at the door, he had picked it up and walked over to Richard.  
He had put the tray on the bench, then sat down next to it.  
Richard was watching him weary, his mind responding more slowly due to his thirst.

The guard had looked at him until Richard looked back.  
Then he had poured a bit of water in the cup and drank a sip of it himself.  
He put the cup next to Richard's hand, motioning him to pick it up.  
When Richard still didn't react, he repeated the action, taking a sip, then putting the cup to where Richard could reach it.

Richard's thirst was now screaming out 'Drink it, just do it, the guy didn't die, drink it!' so he moved a shaky hand to pick up the cup to take a sip of water himself.  
It was cool but not tasting bad, so he took another swallow, he felt the water in his mouth, on his dry tongue, throat, flowing down his esophagus, it felt as if the water reactivated his body one sip at a time.  
The guard then opened the foodcontainer and ate a small piece of bread, then meat and vegetables himself, then putting the tray in Richard's reach.

He got up again, walked to the door, and as he saw Richard was still following him with his eyes he said 'Rammstein..' before stepping out and closing the door again.  
Richard felt weirdly comforted as if for a small moment a warm blanket had been wrapped around him.  
He took his time eating the food and drinking more water, then fell asleep again sitting on the bench, with his head on his knees.

==============================================================

(day 3)  
"We are still in ongoing discussion with the police, a lawyer and the German embassy are now involved too, so we have good hopes that we can work things out real soon now."  
The day started as the previous one ended, with an update by phone from the team that was trying to get Richard out of jail, but until now, still unsuccesful.  
"But you have no definit time yet when he will be out? Will it be today?"  
"We have good hopes to be able to take further steps today..and we it looks like he will be out today or tomorrow.."  
"Did you get a chance to talk to Richard yet? Do you know how he is?"  
"Unfortunately no, but we have every reason to believe they won't treat him badly. That would reflect really bad internationally on politicians here, and we're sure they aren't wanting that.."

Paul felt deflated "So he definitely won't play tonight, I had imagined he would just be there, like always..it will be so weird to look over at the other side of the stage and not see him there.. No offense.."  
The last part was aimed at Peter Tägtgren who had joined the band late last afternoon, immediately hopping on a plane when Till had called him "None taken, I know it must be strange for you to play without him.. you guys have never even changed bandmembers as long as Rammstein exists, have you?"  
The others shook their heads, they all came from towns in former East-Germany and some had known eachother since their teens, all since their twenties.

Till got up "Well, let's do the only thing we can do and make it a hell of a show tonight."  
"I hope I can do you guys proud with the parts I'm playing" Peter felt sorry for the group who were obviously upset at what had happened "I hope I can get it all right, if you give me a tiny bit of time between songs to switch to a new one."  
"You're on my side of the stage anyway" Flake offered "..and I usually start the intro, so why don't we keep close at the beginning of each song to get you off on the right note.."  
The previous day had been spent teaching Peter all the various songs they played and being a versatile musician he soon had gotten the hang of it.  
As he spoke no German, it was agreed that Paul would take over Richard's part of the backing vocals, in case two backing vocals were needed, Olli would step in.

"You'll do fine, especially for such short notice" Till complimented Peter after they had gone through another set of rehearsals.  
"The guitar bit I think I can handle.." Peter chuckled "..but to be honest, I am a bit worried about the fire and pyrotechnics at the show.. I don't know what to expect there.."  
The others laughed, they remembered a show years ago where, when Paul had a family emergency and couldn't play, they had the guitarist of 'System of a Down' step in and the guy had been so freaked about the fire, that when they told him a particular spot on the stage was safe, he had stayed there all night and hadn't dared to move more than a meter either way.

The next hour was spent teaching Peter the choreography of the show, when which pyro would be used and specifically where Paul and Richard usually would join other parts of the stage.  
As proficient as Peter was at guitar, it was obvious that this was a bit more out of his league, much to the amusement of the band, who in the end assured him that if he would just keep an eye on Paul, he would motion when to go where.  
At the end of rehearsal they all felt pretty confident the show could go on more or less as it should and promised eachother to do Richard proud.

Till chuckled "You know what would really be a great gesture? If Paul and Peter do the kissing part as well, that would show those politicians!"  
Peter looked a bit surprised "Oh, okay, yeah if you want we could do that I guess.."  
Olli and Schneider had exchanged a quick look as both had seen Paul turn and walk away at Till's remark "No, don't.."  
"It would be a great statement at the silliness of arresting Richard for it.."  
"No.." Schneider got up to go after Paul, but sat down again thinking the guitarist probably wanted to be alone "..no, I think we should keep that for when they are together again.."  
"Paul always thinks it's a fun idea, this kissing stuff, so he'll do it if we ask.."  
"Till, leave it, I don't think we should do that part without Richard."

As they made their way to their dressingrooms Peter bumped into Paul and decided to adress the subject head-on, just in case Paul, as Till said, would think it funny "Paul, about the, ehm, the kissing bit.."  
Paul looked at Peter, silently waiting for him to continue.  
"Ehm..you know, if you want to do that part of your act, you know..I mean, I'm not used to doing that, but I'd be okay to go along with it, to ehm..to make a statement, if you ehm..if you want to.." Peter realized he had just asked another man to kiss him, and felt awkward about the suggestion, even if only for the show.  
Paul still hadn't replied, but now smiled a small smile "Did Till put you up to this?"  
"Ehm, well, I think he thinks we should do it as a statement.. or something...so I just wanted to let you know I'd be okay with it.."

Paul gave Peter's arm a quick squeeze and smiled again "I can see why Till thought it was a good idea to have you step in, but you don't have to worry about that bit, just do the guitar stuff.." he turned to walk away then stopped, feeling he needed to add a bit more explanation "..you see, I only kiss one guy.." another small smile "..my guy.."  
And with that he entered his dressingroom and closed the door.


	3. Progess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter starts at the end of the last, day 3..

Richard sighed.  
His head was a little clearer than before.  
His nicotin craving wasn't as nagging anymore as it had been.  
The pain in his side was still there, but was manageable as long as he didn't move.  
Action was pretty much limited to using the toilet and eating.  
For the first time since being in this cell, he had a little space in his mind to think.

He had no idea how long he had been here.  
There had been several trays of food and drink, sometimes water, meat and veg, sometimes bread and broth, but he had no clue whether there was one tray a day, or two, or more.  
He had seen noone other than the guards, but Richard suspected they only came in to check he hadn't killed himself.  
Briefly he had considered hurting himself just to break the monotony and see what the guards would do, if that would get him out of this cell, but he quickly dismissed the thought.  
He didn't want to risk the guards to hurt Paul in his place and he didn't want to upset his family.

He missed his family badly.  
Usually he'd have contact with at least one familymember every day, either by phone, or skype, or in person.  
Members of his family would regularly visit tourvenues and they'd spend the day in town together.  
At this venue they had all chosen to stay in Berlin, and now Richard was extremely relieved they had. When he thought of what might have happened, had they travelled here too, he had cried, but after a while managed to calm himself down.  
After all, it had not happened, they were safe.  
At home.

He missed the band.  
Till, his brother-from-another-mother as americans would say, sure to take care of Richard's family when he himself couldn't.  
Olli, with his calm nature and unexpected remarks, sometimes deep, sometimes funny.  
Flake and his dry, down to earth humor.  
Schneider's sense of discipline when playing and practising, ideal for jamming together and his silliness when having a drink.  
And Paul..  
Richard sighed again, this time deeper than before, which was immediately punished by the pain in his side flaring up again.  
Again he felt like crying, alone, in this bare place, but thinking of Paul he smiled.

"Snap out of it.." young Paul would have said.  
Young Paul, who was always at ease everywhere he went, happy go lucky, making friends as easy as other people made coffee, wanting things to happen, not settling down for anything.  
Young Paul would have been impatient with Richard's melancholic thoughts here and would have just talked and talked and talked until Richard would have forgotten all about them and just would argue with whatever was Paul's topic of the day.  
One time in their younger years, Paul had talked and argued so much, that Richard in a desperate attempt to make him shut up, had grabbed him by the cheeks and planted a kiss full on his mouth.  
That had indeed shut Paul up for a good 10 seconds, flabbergasted by the action, the other bandmembers had all cheered Richard and had bought him a round of beer each to celebrate.

Richard laughed out loud at the memory, the sound bouncing back against the bare walls.

After the 10 seconds Paul had pulled himself together and had laughed too, teasing Richard "See, you can't resist my cuteness, just admit it, I'm the cutest guitarist in this band" at which Richard had snorted and reacted with "if cutest is a synonym for most annoying, then I agree" and as usual with Paul, he had moved on to a new topic to fuss about.  
It wasn't until later that Richard had realised he did find Paul cute in some way, but he had quickly dismissed the thought, helped by an after show alcoholbinge.

Over the years Paul and him had often argued, occasionally fought, but in the end had always been on speaking terms again. And lately the two had started to actually listen to eachother, and had found out that they agreed on a lot more than they had thought before.

And Richard still thought Paul was cute, even more so now than in the early days. He had never really confided this to anyone, but suspected Olli knew (Olli always seemed to know these things).  
He certainly hadn't mentioned it to Paul himself, still somewhat weary Paul would make a scathing remark about it (even though somehow he didn't really think it would happen, Paul had mellowed done considerably over the years), but he was happy to have some fun with the other guitarist on stage or bandpractice and leave it at that.

Paul..  
Again he thought about Paul being in this jail somewhere too, in a similar outfit, on a similar bench with a similar tray.  
Maybe talking and talking to the guards, not bothered by not understanding the language.  
What if he was hurt too..?  
What if he was hurt worse..?  
What if he was in hospital or worse..?  
Richard choked at the thought...  
What if..?

"Snap out of it" (again Paul was in his head; now current day tattood, beanie-wearing, still cute Paul.)  
Thinking of what could have happened to Paul did not help.  
Not one bit.

Another sigh.. he hoped to hear from the guys soon, or from bandmanagement, or crew, or someone.  
They knew he was arrested, surely someone was doing something to get him out.  
To get him back to his family again, to the band.

Not like that other time in jail.  
He had known noone there.  
And noone who knew him, had known he was in jail.  
Or had known, but not enough to care.  
He had been alone then, truly alone, in a room very much like this.  
He still felt chills when thinking about it.  
The loneliness he had felt had haunted him for years after, sometimes waking him up in the middle of the night, not daring to go to sleep again.  
Only after he got out, he learned that he had been inside for 6 days.  
Only 6.. it had seemed endless..

But surely this time someone would do something..  
Had it already been 6 days now?  
Exhausted by emotions, Richard lay his head on his knees again and fell asleep.

===============================================

Until the last moment Paul had still thought Richard would strut into the backstage area, ready to perform, but now the band plus Peter was on the verge of going on stage and sharing their customary pre-show Tequila, he was forced to admit it hadn't happened.  
He hadn't talked about it with his colleagues anymore, knowing full well they'd only give him a weary 'it will not happen, but if it makes you feel better we won't argue' look anyway.  
But when he had his first guitar strapped on and stood waiting for his entrance behind the stage, Schneider had come up to him and given him a quick hug before going on stage himself, which had left Paul sighing and resigning to reality.

Before they came out, a local musician who happened to be a long time friend of the band had gone out on stage to explain to the audience that Peter was joining Rammstein that evening, to make sure the show would go on as promised and to show everyone that in the end freedom of expression would conquer all.  
The audience had, understandably, been disappointed, but not surprised as the story of Richard's arrest had made it to mainstream media already, so when the show had not been cancelled, they had expected concessions would be made.

And when the band had started the first song and sounded similar to what was expected after everyone had seen from multiple Youtube videos of the live performance; and especially after the first batch of fireworks had been shot into the air and Till had the audience chanting a chorus of "Fuck politics, love wins" in a round, the concertvibe had grabbed everybody and band and audience were on a roll.

Paul had at first, somewhat stubbornly, kept himself a bit more in the background than usual, but after he had spotted a couple of longterm fans on his side in the audience who he had met on several meet-and-greets in the past and who were always thrilled to come to the show and show him their artwork; he had figured the guys were right about doing this for the fans.

He had easily managed to make eyecontact with them and engaged them in his dancemoves, so he decided to play the rest of the gig just for them and that helped to get his mind off the situation.

Peter, experienced guitarist he was, had indeed as agreed, been taking his lead from Flake to start the songs and from Paul to know when to step where with the pyro, basically mirrorring Paul's moves on the other side of the stage.  
Till would make sure to come over to him while singing regularly to check everything was okay, and then Peter only had to nod, and Till would be happy to move on again.

As the song which often contained the kissing scene was played, the end was shortened considerably from the usual sequence when Paul and Richard played.  
Normally the end would be drawn out, as a teaser to have both guitarists walk towards eachother and hold the audience in anticipation about whether there would or wouldn't be a kiss.  
This time the outro was almost skipped completely when Schneider managed to catch Flake's eye and mouthed 'start the next one', so Flake somewhat abruptly began the next song and Till's pyrocrew had to hurry to get his fireworks ready.  
Till, who was never happy if the show went differently then rehearsed, threw one annoyed look at Schneider, but realizing the reason behind the move, refrained from complaining.

After they had taken their bow at the end of the show, and Paul had said a special goodbye to his fancorner, the band retreated backstage.  
Normally they'd all go undress, shower, dress and meet at the Afterparty, but they had decided given the situation, to cancel that, instead agreed to gather backstage to first get an end-of-show-beer together.

"Great show guys, all things considered, Peter you were an ace, you really helped us out!" Till raised his beer in a toast, as the others nodded in agreement.  
"To Peter!" the other 4 replied in unison, and all took a swig of their beer.  
"Only happy to help out so your show could go on, it was really fun to play on such a large set for once, never have done that in my life.." Peter chuckled "..but all that fire had me worried, I've got to tell you... You guys are probably fireproofed by now, but once or twice I thought I'd melt from the heat, so I had to take a step back.."  
Paul laughed "We still have that too, sometimes I feel my eyebrows will be scorched off" after which the others offered their experiences too.  
"My waterbottles have on occassion melted away."  
"Sometimes the pyrocrew overdo it so much I throw a drumstick at them to make them lay off."  
"Why do you think my position is in the back row, I can go offstage if the flames are too close."  
"When I'm wearing a rubber outfit, I just worry that with the heat I can't get it off anymore if I have to go to the bathroom."  
They all laughed, relieved the show had gone well.

Just when they decided to get changed, their manager lunged into the room "News from Richard!"  
As one person the band took a collective intake of breath.  
"He is here?"  
"Well, no, not that yet."  
"But he is free and on a plane?"  
"Ehm, no.."  
"He is free and on the phone?"  
"Paul.." Schneider moved to sit next to the guitarist who had been firing the questions like a machinegun ".. let the man talk.." as he lay his arm around Paul's shoulder.

The manager hesitated a moment, but when Paul made no attempt to start a new rapidfire, he continued "No, he is not free yet."  
"However.." he added quickly seeing Paul's deepening frown "..the embassy has managed to reach a breakthrough. It seems the politicians really just did want to make their statement and have no real intention to keep Richard detained longterm. As part of the statement they are going to formally accuse him tomorrow, but we have been assured that this will be followed by in immediate pardoning and he will be released in the custody of the embassy."  
The band waited in tense anticipation "...meaning...?"

"This really is all formal stuff so none of the involved parties loose face, but basically it means that after that Richard is free to go without restrictions. If he wanted too, he even would be allowed to remain in the country, but he can also leave immediately.."

Paul jumped up "Ofcourse he'll leave, and I'm going there to be with him when he gets out, so he'll at least have someone familiar to talk too.."  
"He still is in jail tonight, and as we still don't completely trust the politicians there, I think it would be wiser if you didn't. We still don't want to give them the idea of starting the whole thing again with you as the other part in the 'offending action' as they call it."  
"Oh, for fuck's sake.." Paul dropped down again on the sofa, wanting to start an epic verbal fight with whoever talked to him first, but in his heart knowing that that would not help.

Till had been listening quietly and now spoke up too "I get that you don't want Paul to go, but I do think Paul is right and it would be good if Richard has someone familiar with him when is released. Ofcourse he'll come straight to us anyway, but at least he'll have someone to talk to on the flight. We don't really know what happened, so maybe he'll want to Diva-up or be dramatic, and who better to do that to than one of us."  
"I'll go.." Olli interrupted, the others turning to him a bit surprised, it wasn't like Olli to jump into discussions like that.  
"..Paul is out, for obvious reasons.." resulting in a disgruntled "..stupid.." from the other sofa, "Till and Flake had a conviction years ago for 'sexual explicit behaviour on stage' so it's probably safer if they stay out of it. But I'm much less known then the others, and I've known Richard since forever, so I can deal with whatever mood he is in.."  
Schneider had until now not said a word, but with a small squeeze of Paul's shoulder, which he again had enfolded said "I'll come too. I'm the same as Olli, no prior obstacles, and who knows when it will come in useful if there's two of us" again a squeeze of Paul's shoulder, and more directed to the other guitarist then to the rest of the group "..we'll bring him back, don't you worry.."

"Okay, we'll arrange it that way then. Tomorrow morning you will travel on; Till, Flake and Paul to the next concertvenue, Olli and Schneider back to fetch Richard. When Richard is released the three of you will travel to the concertvenue as well."

"If you want I can travel to the next concert too" Peter was only too happy to be able to help in some way "..if necessary I can play the next gig, and if Richard is up for it, I'm happy to watch it in the audience.." with a wink to Till "..maybe I'll want a VIP pass though."  
"After this you'll get a VIP pass for life..are you sure you can do another gig?"  
"Sure, no sweat, but I have no problem either with Richard wanting to play, I'd be glad to step back while I still have all my hair."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A somewhat shorter chapter this time, so I have enough room in my head to get to the fluff next..


	4. Reunited

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starts the next day, day 4... (and finally the fluffy bit..)

And so early next morning all were packed and ready to leave. They said their goodbyes at the airport where the others made Olli and Schneider swear they would phone as soon as Richard was released.

Paul was his usual bubbly self again, excited at the thought of seeing the other guitarist soon and continue the tour as if nothing happened, and now it was clear that that would happen today, nothing could spoil his good mood.  
He was teasing Flake with a new hat the keyboarder had recently bought, and although the others had initially decided to let him have his fun, as all were a bit giddy at having Rammstein complete again, after Paul started to repeat his arsenal of 'bad hat' jokes for the third time, Flake threw a 'save me now' look at Till, at which the singer duly acted by shoving the guitarist in a seat in the waitingroom, threatening to sit on him if he didn't shut up.  
After some more of Paul's protests, he wearily looked at Schneider "Maybe you should just take him with you after all, a couple of days behind bars would do him good.."  
As they left to board their plane, Olli and Schneider grinned as they still heard Paul's muffled protests behind Till's back.

\-----

Not knowing quite what to expect Oli and Schneider has passed the flighttime by speculating on different scenario's that could happen when they arrived.  
However, that they were immediately whisked away by an elated employee from the German embassy who drove them straight to the policestation, was an even faster development of the situation than they had dared to imagine.  
"We didn't hear of it until today, but apparently now they have decided what they are going to do, they want it over and done with. We assume the pressure to not disgrace themselves in the international eye has finally sunk in with the politicians who were behind this all" he chuckled "..it probably didn't hurt that we brought the German ambassador himself in on it.."  
"I wish they would have thought about that before they started all this drama."  
The embassy employee sighed "Yes, well, unfortunately the urge for a 'statement' apparently was too great to resist. So they are just going to finish their statement in style, release him, make sure he's out of the country and then continue as if nothing happened."  
"And they can do that...just like that.."  
"Unfortunately in this country they can, yes. So we decided to play along so we can get Mr. Kruspe out of here. When your friend is out of the country, we'll issue a formal complaint. Believe me, this will not be the end of it, but...ah look, here it is..."

After Olli and Schneider entered the building, they were greeted by a delegation of the embassy, with a smiling ambassador in their midst.  
He introduced himself and brought them the news they had been hoping for "..It is already done, he's free to go, no restraints, he is being brought here as we speak."  
Olli and Schneider looked at eachother, smiling in relieve, somewhat overwhelmed at how fast things moved on all of a sudden. They had half expected having to wait for hours.

"Have you seen him? Is he okay?"  
"Unfortunately no, that wasn't allowed, for us that was even more of an indication that they wanted it finished quickly."  
Schneider had wanted to ask more, but was distracted as another door opened into the hallway.

====================================================

Richard hadn't slept long.  
Nightmares of his entire family in jail, the band in jail, himself in the middle, not knowing how to help, who to help, what to do.  
He didn't dare to go to sleep anymore, afraid the thoughts would return.  
So he had just gotten up to walk from the door to the bench and back to keep himself awake.

Another tray had come.  
He ate and drank; cold meat and broth.  
The tray had been taken away.

Craving distraction he had tried to engage the guards in some sort of communication, however minimal. He had named names of bands he knew were from this country in the hope that one would be recognized, but the guards on trayduty were apparently not in a talking mood.  
When the last guard just left again without a word and he heard the locks slide into place at the door, Richard again felt like crying.

After a while, he heard the door being unlocked again and sat down on the bench, expecting another tray.  
The guard was the same guy who had initially gotten him to first eat and drink something; the one who knew Rammstein.  
Richard always felt a bit of relief when this guard was on duty and his current state of mind he almost cried at the hope that this one would maybe respond to him.

"Hi.." Richard said in the local language, one of the few words he knew, half expecting no reaction.  
"Hello.." was the reply in english.  
Richard could hardly believe his ears.

"Up, please.." the guard motioned him to stand.  
Richard only now noticed there was no tray.  
Maybe with another guard he would have protested, but with this guy he decided to just go along with it.  
The guard handcuffed him, quicker than Richard realized what was happening.  
"No, what are you doing.."  
"Come.."

Richard started to panic.  
As bare as this cell was, it was familiar by now.  
He didn't know what else there was in this place.  
"No...please, not.."  
The guard looked at him with a frown, clearly not understanding what was holding his prisoner back, but he didn't seem angry "..come.." he took Richard by the arm.  
"No.." Richard tried to back away, but his condition didn't leave him much room.  
"Come.." the guard gave a small tug "..come.. Rammstein.."

Rammstein?  
The word was enough for Richard to give up his resistance.  
The guard took the opportunity to give Richard another small tug, to get him to start walking, and for the first time, walked through the metal door and out of the cell.  
The guard kept holding his arm and gently nudged him now and then into which direction to walk, rounding a corner, through a door, another corner, another door opening up into a hallway..

"Richard!"

In one move Schneider and Olli ran towards the guitarist.  
At the sound of his name he looked up, somewhat confused at the group of people looking at him.  
"Richard.." Schneider was already next to him, wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug.  
Richard groaned in pain and held his breath, carefully exhaling again as Schneider quickly let go, unsure at the response.  
The guard who was still standing near by, released the handcuffs. He wrapped them in his pocket and stepped back "Go..Rammstein..'Du hast'.."

Rammstein.  
Only now Richard's mind snapped in place again "Schneider? Olli? You came.."  
"Scholle..." Richard's old nickname was only used by his friends who knew him when he was young. He looked at them, a small smile forming on his face as the reality of the situation dawned on him.  
He laid his hand om Schneider's arm and squeezed it, his smile growing bigger at seeing their familiar faces.  
Olli and Schneider were taken aback at seeing Richard in his prison-outfit, unkempt and unshaven, traces of bruises and abrasions visible in his face and arm.  
They had last seen him only a few days ago and as the band had remained more or less in concertmode, they hadn't really imagined their guitarist, usually so concerned about his looks, could look this disheveled.

"You came!" Richard sighed and smiled as he, with some difficulty, gave both of the others a small hug "..everything will be alright.."

He seemed to adjust to the situation pretty quick Schneider and Olli were relieved to see.  
"Let's get you out of here.."  
Richard turned to thank the guard, then walked a few steps further down the hallway.  
"Do you want us to ask your clothes back?"  
"No" another few steps.  
"Are you going to walk out of here in that jail outfit?"  
"Don't care.."  
Schneider and Olli exchanged a glance. Normally their leadguitarist would not be caught dead in public in an outfit like this, but they were happy to get out of here as soon as possible. In Richard's hotelroom, that had been kept on after the others had left, there would be plenty of time to change.

They started to walk down the hall as well, but before they stepped outside, Richard turned around and took a step back.  
"What are you doing? Come on, the car is waiting outside to take us away from here.."  
"Shouldn't we wait?"  
"For what?"  
"For Paul..isn't he released as well?" Richard took another step back and stared down the hall as if expecting another door to open.  
An uncomfortable look between Olli and Schneider over Richard's head, in this situation it was convenient they were a bit taller than him.  
"Richard.." Schneider hesitated, the guitarist's meaning only now dawning to him "..Paul is not here.."  
"Not?" a panicked look in Richard's eyes.  
"No.." Schneider squeezed his hand, still on his arm "..relax..he's okay, he's with Till and Flake. The police didn't arrest him.."  
Richard let out a choked sigh, before quickly recovering with a smile again "Good.. let's go then.."

\-----

On the drive to the hotel Richard insisted on first phoning his family to tell them of his release. A huge cheer erupted on the other side of the line having him grin at their reaction.  
"You'd almost think you were glad to have me back.."  
"You think? It was much too quiet without you..and all for such a silly political statement..you should really let those politicians know that they don't get you down that easily. Just get up on that horse again!"

In the meanwhile Olli and Schneider had brought Richard up to date on what the band had been doing, and even though he hadn't shared anything about his own experience, Richard seemed like his old self again, so they were looking forward to picking up where they had left off as soon as possible.

When they were back at the hotel, Olli went to arrange their returnflight with bandmanagement and left Schneider and Richard in Richard's old hotelroom.  
Schneider decided to start packing Richard's suitcases, cheerfully chatting while doing so.  
"Glad that you're doing well. We'll get you back to the band in no time. Who knows we can get a flight in an hour or so. The fans will be thrilled too that you're back again. Maybe we should post an Instagram post in a moment to let them know, I bet your fanbase will explode. Boy, you have many suitcases, how much stuff do you actually need when you're on tour, I have only half of what you drag along. Do you want me to pack all of the stuff up or is there something you need to get out of one..?"

Only now he realized that Richard hadn't replied to any of his conversation and was still standing at the entrance of the room, eyes closed.  
"Richard..?"  
Schneider got up and walked up to stand in front of the guitarist.  
He didn't seem to notice.  
"Richard.."  
Schneider lifted his hand and softly ran his finger through the other's hair. When he touched Richard's cheek, the guitarist for the first time responded, leaning his face in to let his cheek being craddled by the drummer's hand.  
For a moment Schneider didn't know what to say; he quietly looked at the other man.  
Still Richard didn't react, but seemed to enjoy the touch, so Schneider continued to stroke his cheek while thinking what to do next.

"Richard...are you okay..?"  
The guitarist opened his eyes and looked at him. Still without words, which made Schneider only more worried.  
He moved a little closer and tried again "..is there anything I can do?"  
Richard made a small move forward as well, enough to be able to lay his head on the drummer's shoulder.

Schneider put his arm around the other man's waist, careful not to hurt him "Please talk to me.."  
"Just don't leave me.."  
Schneider kissed the guitarist's temple.  
"We're not leaving you, honey..." again stroking the other's hair and neck, not knowing exactly where Richard was hurting, but as he felt him relax under his hand he figured he was doing the right thing.  
They remained standing for a few minutes, Richard didn't seem inclined to move.

Schneider pulled back a little to be able to look at him. Here and there small flecks of dried up blood were still lingering on his face. Even some traces of stagemake-up were visible here and there. It was all very unlike Richard, who normally painstakingly tried to look his best.  
He lifted a hand to gently stroke Richard's hair, then carefully planted a small kiss on Richard's forehead "What do you want to do? Lay down and get some sleep?"  
Small shake of the head.

Schneider still didn't fully understand what had happened to get Richard in this state, but decided it best to take control.  
"First things first, why don't you take a shower, you'll feel better without all the grime."  
He took Richard by the hand, guiding him into the bathroom and turned on the shower.  
He unbuttoned Richard's shirt and pants, taking them off and throwing them in the garbagebin, considering it best to get rid of any memories of the past days as soon as possible.  
When he turned and saw Richard standing in his boxershort, he stifled a gasp as he noticed the bruising on his chest and side, but decided it best not to try to engage the other in conversation as Richard clearly wasn't in a talking mood.  
"Take your boxers off, I'm not going to do that for you..I'm not your guitar husband.."  
That for the first time elicited a reaction, a small smile. After Richard slid his shorts down his legs on the floor, Schneider guided him into the shower.

As the warm water flowed over his body, Richard seemed to relax and sighed. After a few moments he sat down on the showerfloor under the warm stream, head in his hands..  
Schneider rolled up his shirtsleeves and stroked the guitarists hair and neck, helping the warm water roll over his back.  
His eye fell on Richard's collection of shower accessories and he grabbed a bottle of shampoo. He squeezed a dollop in his hand and gently started to massage it into Richard's hair. He took another dollop and soaped up Richard's neck, gently working his way down over his back.  
When he reached the bruised area, Richard winced, but didn't pull back, so Schneider continued onward.

He heard the hotelroomdoor open and Olli come in.  
"Schneider?"  
"In here.."  
"Plane leaves in two hours, they'll pick us up in one.." As he saw the scene in the bathroom he sat down on the toiletlid "..how is he..?"  
"Shaken up, bruised and grimy, so I figured we'd take care of that last part first and then see how he feels.. can you get him some clothes out of his suitcase?"  
Olli returned with a loose sweatpants and trainingjacket and sat down again.  
With his eyes he followed Schneider's hands stroking Richard's back, trying carefully to touch the bruising as little as possible "I didn't tell the others that he is hurt.."  
"Not much point now, they'd only worry; they will see it for themselves in a couple of hours."

After making sure all the soap was rinsed out, giving Richard some more time to enjoy the warm water, Schneider turned off the shower and helped the guitarist up.  
Olli handed him a towel and then his clothes.  
Once dried off and clothed, Richard smiled at them "Thanks, I needed that.."  
"Feeling better?"  
"A bit, I'll be better when we're out of this country.."  
"Do you want to talk about what is was like in there?"  
Richard sighed, then shook his head "Not right now, I...maybe later.."  
Schneider carefully laid his arm around the guitarist's shoulder and gave him a small kiss on his cheek "Then just relax, we'll pack up your stuff and we'll be ready to leave in no time.."

\-----

Flake, Till and Paul had been overjoyed to hear that Richard had been released when they arrived at the next concerttown. They had immediately chartered a minivan and Tom the bandassistant as it's driver so they could all go to the airport again to be there when Schneider, Olli and Richard arrived.

Paul was especially excited to see the other guitarist again, making sure he wore the other guitarist's favorite beanie. He had still felt a bit guilty for being part of the act that had gotten Richard arrested, but now everything was settled again, he hoped they could maybe even do a little guitarsession together this evening.  
Wisely leaving out the 'bad-hat' jokes, he was his usual chatty self, but Till and Flake didn't mind, they too were elated the whole ordeal had ended, even Flake didn't find anything to grumble about.

After the plane landed and their bandmates unboarded, Till was the first to reach the three arrivals, Flake and Paul following close behind.  
Till saw his longtime friend between Olli and Schneider, called out "Scholle!" and in no time enclosed Richard in one of his warm tight bearhugs.  
Richard groaned loud and hitched his breath.  
Till instantly loosened the hug, startled at the unexpected response.  
"Are you okay?"  
Richard managed a smile trying not to grimas "I will be..in a while.."  
Schneider looked at the other three "He got hurt at the arrest, he's pretty bruised.."

Flake had also approached Richard to give him a hug, but now only rubbed his upper arm "Glad you're back, it was getting awfully quiet without you, even Paul wasn't as talkative as usual."  
At the mention of the other guitarist's name, Richard smiled and turned to Paul who stood a little behind Till.

And Paul?  
Paul was shocked.  
And the shock was all too visible on his face,  
He had imagined Richard making a glorious rockstar arrival, and this was the opposite, Richard obviously in pain, even, as Paul noticed now, somewhat supported by Olli and Schneider on either side as he had walked towards them.  
Paul didn't know what to say, how to react.  
He swallowed, then turned and backed away..

The others watched him leave, exchanging uncomfortable looks.  
Richard's smile had vanished.  
He turned to Schneider and whispered "Is he angry at me?"  
Schneider frowned "No, I'm pretty sure he isn't.." then turning to the others "Olli, could you help Richard to the van? And if you two could get our luggage...I'll go see what's up with Paul.."

Olli and Richard walked to the van.  
Richard on the verge of tears, Olli trying to soothe him "It'll be okay, Paul is just upset you're hurt.. they didn't know that, maybe we should have told them, but we didn't want them to worry.."  
Richard nodded, but Paul's reaction, added to the pain in his body and the lack of sleep, had drained out the last bit of energy left in him, so he leaned heavily on Olli to reach the minivan and with a groan sat down on the backseat.

It took Schneider a few minutes to find Paul, the guitarist had ran away from the scene and stood panting at the other side of a small building.  
"Hey, why did you ran off, he was looking forward to seeing you.."  
"WHAT THE FUCK!! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME HE WAS HURT?"  
"I didn't know for sure until he was released, so.."  
"SO? YOU CALLED US WHEN HE WAS OUT, YOU COULD HAVE TOLD US THEN?"  
"Paul, don't yell at me, we had a lot to do, and I figured you'd see us soon anyway, and since I wasn't sure at his arrest if he got hurt.."  
"AT HIS ARREST? HE ALREADY GOT HURT AT HIS ARREST AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME, WHAT THE FUCK SCHNEIDER?  
"Well, what was the point..?"  
"WELL, I WOULD HAVE...I WOULD HAVE..I DON'T KNOW, BUT I WOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING.."  
"Stop! Shouting! There was nothing you could have done..the others didn't know either.."  
"FUCK THE OTHERS! YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME!  
"WHY PAUL? WHY SHOULD I HAVE TOLD YOU?"  
"BECAUSE..BECAUSE I LOVE HIM! I'M IN LOVE WITH HIM, OKAY!"  
"NO, YOU'RE NOT!"  
"WHAT? WHAT KIND OF STUPID REMARK IS THAT!"  
Schneider looked at Paul standing opposite him, eyes spitting fire, fists clenched "Oh yeah? Then why, if you're really in love with him, are you standing here yelling at me for the last minutes while your honey is in pain in that van, worrying why you are angry at him?"  
"I'M NOT.." Paul all of sudden realized what Schneider had said "..I'm not angry at him..why would I be.."  
"You walked away. He was looking forward to see you and you walked away. What else is he supposed to think?"  
"I.." Paul swallowed a lump that had all of a sudden appeared in his throat "..I should.."  
"Paul, just go to him.."  
As Paul turned to run to the minivan, Schneider sighed, worn out from the day, then grinned in himself at Paul's blurted out confession "..I knew it.."

Olli was sitting next to Richard, trying some smalltalk to distract the guitarist, when Paul turned up at the van-door, again panting from running.  
"Can I eh...I want to talk to Richard.." Paul licked his lips, not really knowing what to say "..alone.."  
Olli looked at Richard, who after a few seconds gave him a small nod, then got out of the car "Okay, I'll go help the others with the luggage.."  
When Paul took one step into the van he stopped him shortly "But Paul, don't leave him on his own..if you're going to run off again, please get one of us to be with Richard first.."  
Paul swallowed, then nodded "Okay, but I'm not going to run off again.."  
"Just stay with him."  
"Try and stop me."

Paul sat down next to Richard on the backseat.  
He looked at Richard "I'm sorry.. I shouldn't have done that.."  
"Are you angry?"  
Paul smiled "Ofcourse not, I worried you would be angry at *me*.."  
Richard frowned "Why?"  
Paul chuckled nervously over the thought that had bothered him for the last days "Because I made you kiss me, I know you didn't really want too, and now you're hurt.."  
"Paul, it's not your fault I'm hurt.." Richard took Paul's hand laying next to him on the bench and gave it a small squeeze "..and I always want to kiss you, don't ever doubt that.."  
Paul chuckled "Me too..well, me too you..I mean.."  
Richard smiled and lifted his hand to Paul's neck to pull the other man closer to him "..I know what you mean.." and he put his lips on Paul's, gently, and kissed him once, twice..  
Paul kissed him back, after a while carefully leaning in, hand landing on Richard's chest.  
"Ouch.." Richard grimassed, but held on to Paul.  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean.."  
"It's okay.." he kissed Paul again "..if you want to stay with me tonight, I can show you what spots are a painfree zone.."  
Paul grinned and kissed Richard again "Ofcourse I'll stay with you tonight, just try to keep me away, and if you want I can help you with stuff, washing and such."  
Richard grinned too "Schneider and Olli helped with that already.."  
"Oh yeah?"  
"Yeah, but I bet it'll be much more fun if you do it.."  
"I'm pretty good with helping you undress as well.."  
The two guitarists smiled a bit mischievously at one another.  
"Looking forward to it.." Richard sighed "..but for a couple of days we'll have to leave it at that unfortunately..at least until the bruises wear off.."  
Paul smiled, then leaned in to kiss the other guitarist "I'm just glad you're back, with the band, and with me.."

The other bandmates had deliberately taken it slow with the luggage as Olli and Schneider, with a grin, had told them the guitarists had patched things up.  
The carride had fortunately been a short one and after they had all shared a large tray of sandwiches and coffee in Richard's room for dinner, the others had one by one made their way to their own room.  
When Schneider left, he looked at Paul, still sitting on Richard's bed, and cheekily asked "You are staying here I presume?"  
Paul blushed a little, but recovered quickly "It's probably no surprise after my little outburst.."  
Schneider laughed "We suspected it for a while, the two of you are not really good at hiding your feelings when you're together.." he chuckled when the guitarists looked at eachother with a grin "..just give him some time to heal, will you?"  
Paul cosied up against Richard and kissed him on the cheek "Don't worry, I want to enjoy him for a whole while longer.."  
Schneider was about to leave, then turned back and leaned over to Richard, giving him a peck on the cheek "I'm just really glad you're back, Rammstein isn't the same without you.."

Paul had helped Richard unclothe, wash up and eventually getting into bed.  
After several days on the hard bench Richard breathed a sigh of relief when he could lay down on this comfortable hotelbed with a big fluffy matras and duvet. It took some attempts and groans to find a position on his side that caused as little pain as possible, but now he found it, he felt tiredness seep into his body.  
Paul had turned off the light and carefully laid down as well, as close to Richard as possible without causing him discomfort.  
As they both lay down, a beam of moonlight sneaking in through the curtains enabled them to see eachother's face next to their own.  
Richard lifted his hand to stroke Paul's sideburns, Paul grinned at the touch.  
"I missed you.."  
"I missed you too.."

Paul moved his face a tiny bit closer so he could give the other man an eskimo-kiss, then put his lips on Richard's, tenderly kissing him.  
Richard sighed, fighting his tiredness because he wanted to stay awake to talk to Paul a little while longer.  
He put his hand on Paul's neck, stroking his tattoo "I didn't know if they got you too..I was afraid you were locked up as well.."  
In the moonlight Paul could see a tear rolling down Richard's cheek. He swallowed, then smiled while he kissed Richard's cheek to make the tear go away "They made me leave the country, I wanted to come get you.."  
"You probably would have been caught as well.."  
"That's what the guys said.."  
"I'm glad you are okay; the guys were right then.."  
Paul again kissed Richard's cheek and whispered "Let's not tell them that..we don't want them to get used to it.."  
Both guitarists grinned, then found eachother's lips again in a slow and tender kiss.  
They took their time just laying next to one another, stroking eachother, occassionally exchanging a kiss, until after a while Richard's tiredness overtook him.  
Paul laid his hand on Richard's hip, a place he had made sure was a particular bruisefree area and while continuing to gently stroke the other man, he too eventually fell asleep.

\-----

In all the emotion of the last day, the band had almost forgotten there were concerts to be played. Since Richard's physical condition didn't allow him to play yet, Peter was happy to help out again in this town.  
Richard did however come along to every bandpractice, partly because he still didn't like to be on his own, partly so Paul and him could join in their usual pre-concert banter.

When the concert approached, Richard for once spent the preparation time in Paul and Olli's dressingroom and realized that had it's perks too over his usual arrangement of having a dressingroom on his own.

During the concert Richard was happy to spend his time backstage at Paul's side of the stage for once and enjoyed seeing the show from that perspective.  
Paul loved having Richard around and came to chat and fool around between songs.

The show was in full swing when Paul came backstage to switch guitars and didn't see Richard anymore, but didn't think much of it, the next song had already started, so he walked out on stage again.

After a few riffs he glimpsed over to Peter's side as he still was supposed to guide the guest-guitarist in the choreography of the show and to his surprise saw Richard grinning back at him.  
Immediately Paul realized which song it was and grinned back.

Richard and Peter had gotten together before the show and Peter had suggested for Richard, if he was up to it, to play one song to please the fans, the rest of the band and especially, to please Paul.  
Richard had readily agreed and both hadn't even needed to discuss which song it was going to be.  
When at the end of the song the buildup to the Paul&Richard scene approached, the entire band was looking forward to the kiss they knew was coming. Hadn't they needed to continue playing the song as the accompanying music for the scene, they all would have preferred to just sit back and enjoy.

Paul had already started the walkup to centerstage early, Richard mirrored his moves from the other side. Normally both guitarists were supposed to keep playing the music until the last moment, when a quick kiss or hug was shared.  
This time, when he arrived in the middle, Paul stopped playing and twisted his guitar around on it's strap so it was hanging on his back and he had two hands free.  
Richard smiled at him and continued playing a bit longer until he was close enough to Paul so their faces almost touched. Then he too took off his guitar, holding it with one hand by the neck while it rested on the floor.

They grinned at eachother.  
Paul lifted both arms, one to Richard's cheek, the other around his shoulder. Richard closed his arm around Paul's back while he let the other guitarist pull him in for a kiss.  
A real kiss, lips locked, after a few seconds they got lost in the moment and let their tongues join in the fun.  
The crowd roared and applauded, the rest of the band continued the melody with big smiles on their faces, but the guitarists didn't hear anything outside eachother anymore.

Only the lights going down and the pyro and music starting for the next song, made Paul and Richard end their kiss and with a last grin let go of eachother.  
"I love you.."  
"I love you too, Schatz.."


End file.
